Caroline’s Kids animal cruelty trial delayed

The trial date has been continued for the owners of a private Concord Township cat animal shelter who are accused of misdemeanor animal cruelty.

Caroline’s Kids owners Tom and Judie Brown were scheduled to go before a jury June 23 in Painesville Municipal Court.

The case has now been delayed until Aug. 2.

The Lake Humane Society seized 161 cats from the shelter Nov. 28. Criminal charges also were filed against volunteer workers Ellen Distler and Virginia Lee after the seizure.

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Humane Society officials had received a complaint about the conditions of multiple cats. They claimed more than 60 percent of the cats had untreated medical conditions, and that some of them were not properly sequestered in quarantine areas.

The defendants’ attorney, Gregory Sasse, is claiming Humane Society officials seized healthy and well-cared for pets and attempted to extort the Browns for $48,000 in illegal “restitution.”

Sasse’s $5 million civil lawsuit on behalf of the Browns remains pending in federal court. In the suit, Sasse accuses the Humane Society of operating an animal “death camp” for unadoptable pets to maximize profits.

Meanwhile, DanaMarie Pannella, a special prosecutor with the Humane Society, has asked Painesville Municipal Court Judge Michael A. Cicconetti to disqualify Sasse from representing the defendants in the criminal case to avoid a potential conflict of interest.